Quick guide to ... HIV and Aids
Children & Young People Now
27 November 2008
HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. When a young person is infected with HIV, they have it for life as there is no cure. It causes the immune system to weaken, meaning that the child with HIV may develop rare infections. When these become very serious, the disease is then classed as Aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)
The HIV virus is passed on through infected breast milk, blood, semen or vaginal fluid entering the young person's body. The main ways young people contract HIV are by sharing needles with an infected person, or having unprotected sex with someone carrying the...